[247] "'The world is eternal,' Vaccha — this is a speculative view (diṭṭhigata), a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a vacillation of views, a fetter of views; it is attended by suffering (dukkha), attended by vexation, attended by despair, attended by fever; it does not conduce to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation (nirodha), to peace, to direct knowledge, to full awakening, to Nibbāna. 'The world is not eternal,' Vaccha … 'The world is finite,' Vaccha … 'The world is infinite,' Vaccha … 'The soul and the body are the same,' Vaccha … 'The soul is one thing, the body another,' Vaccha … 'A Tathāgata exists after death,' Vaccha … 'A Tathāgata does not exist after death,' Vaccha … 'A Tathāgata both exists and does not exist after death,' Vaccha … 'A Tathāgata neither exists nor does not exist after death,' Vaccha — this is a speculative view, a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a vacillation of views, a fetter of views; it is attended by suffering, attended by vexation, attended by despair, attended by fever; it does not conduce to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to full awakening, to Nibbāna.
"Seeing this danger, Vaccha, I do not take up any of these speculative views at all."
"But does the worthy Gotama have any speculative view at all?"
"'Speculative view,' Vaccha — that has been put away by the Tathāgata. For this, Vaccha, has been seen by the Tathāgata: 'Such is form, such the origin of form, such the passing away of form; such is feeling (vedanā), such the origin of feeling, such the passing away of feeling; such is perception, such the origin of perception, such the passing away of perception; such are volitional formations, such the origin of volitional formations, such the passing away of volitional formations; such is consciousness, such the origin of consciousness, such the passing away of consciousness.' Therefore, I say, the Tathāgata is liberated without clinging, through the destruction, the dispassion, the cessation, the giving up, and the relinquishment of all conceivings, all churnings, and all I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.